


How Kuwabara Was Deluded by Foxes

by KiannaLeigh



Series: Union [3]
Category: YuYu Hakusho
Genre: Bets, Friends that suck, Gen, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Kitsune, M/M, Male Friendship, Profit From Misfortune, Tricksters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-25
Updated: 2013-02-25
Packaged: 2017-12-03 14:51:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/699440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KiannaLeigh/pseuds/KiannaLeigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuwabara boastfully dismisses the power of fox demons after a dumb luck win. Kurama decides he needs to be taught a lesson. Hiei sees a way from him to gain something out of the whole situation. Yuusuke just hopes his boyfriend doesn't hurt his best friend too much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Reason

**Author's Note:**

> Set after Legendary Fox-spirit. This is a retelling of the story "How Tokutaro Was Deluded by Foxes" an old Japanese myth.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A friendly card game between the guys turns ugly when egos start to show.

In an upper-middle class apartment on the edge of the city Kuwabara, Yusuke, Hiei and Kurama sat around a table in the kitchen. Kurama had his hands folded neatly in front of him. His eyes were half lidded and he looked around the table with an easy smile on his face. Yusuke was to his left staring down at his hand with intense focus. Every once in a while he looked up at the others quickly but then went back to his hand. Hiei was to the left of him. He had his arms crossed over his chest and his teeth grit. The little fire demon was resisting the urge to rub at the seal that had been placed by Kurama over his Jigan. To Hiei's left Kuwabara looked around the table multiple times.

After a long stretched of silence Hiei shifted. "Are going to sit here all night? Someone do something!" The little fire demon bristled in annoyance, filling the air around him with heat.

"I raise by eight hundred and twenty yen!" Yusuke shouted slammed the money in the middle of the table, added it to an already over flowing pile. Hiei quickly looked over to his right where the detective was and then picked up his cards. After concentrating on them a moment he looked back to the detective. He stared at him a moment before a sizzling sound issued from his forehead.

"Hey, no cheating shorty!" Kuwabara shouted from Hiei's left.

The fire demon glared at him while wincing at the pain the seal was causing him. "Why you are so opposed to simply ensuring that you are victorious by any means necessary I'll never know." The spikey hair man glared across the table for four at the serenely smiling Kurama. "Not that I am able to do that anyway in this particular challenge."

Kurama smiled while titled his head slightly to the side. "Why Hiei. You sound so upset. What's the fun of a game of chance if you're going to cheat?"

Hiei snorted at that. "Lying fox. Poker is not a game of chance. It is a game where the skill to fool and manipulate your opponents through subtle trickery allows you to win." At that sentence Hiei broke into a grin. "I'd bet you were taught to play a game like this as training when you were a child."

At that mocking comment both Yuusuke and Kuwabara burst to a fit of howling laughter. Kurama sat, still smiling, and shook his head. "Now, now. There's no need to be so biting. Do you see Yuusuke's raise, Hiei?"

The fire demon ceased his chuckled but still smiled. "I do," he said before throwing another six coins in the pile on the middle of the table.

"So do I!" Kuwabara shouted as he threw his share into the pool.

"Just barely," Heie muttered eyeing the now empty place for coins in Kuwabara's corner of the table.

The orange haired man glared. "Hey shut up Hiei! Don't you know it's bad form to count your winnings before the game's over?" Hiei glanced at the man but then flicked his eyes down to his own large pile of winnings.

"Whatever you say," he responded before looking at Kurama. "Now you fox. Hold or fold?"

Kurama looked down at his cards contemplatively for the slightest moment before and expression flashed across his face, but it was gone before it could be read. "I see Yuusuke's raise and raise myself by the sum of 4,000 yen." While the other three men stared in shock Kurama shifted to pull out his wallet and retrieved two bills from inside it. Throwing the bills on the pile he smiled. Hiei, Yuusuke and Kuwabara shifted. From the table two Shureimon stared up at them temptingly.

Hiei looked at his pile of winnings and threw his cards face down. "Fold," he said miserably.

Yuusuke looked at the fire demon and threw his card down too. He didn't even have enough to meet the raise. "Fold," he muttered.

Kuwabara stared at the bills for a moment before glancing at Kurama. "I see your raise."

With wide eyes Kurama stared at the younger man. "Kazuma? Really? You don't have anything left to bet with."

"Hiei, lemme borrow some money," the orangette said quickly.

"Not on your life, oaf. Risk you own winnings." The fire demon glared and his hand inched ever so slightly to his sword.

"Yuusuke?" Kuwabara said in a hopeful tone.

"Man I don't even have enough to meet it myself!" Yuusuke sighed while shaking his head.

Kuwabara looked back at Kurama. "Lemme raise without having it. If I lose, I'll work you for you for ten yen an hour until I pay you back."

Kurama took in the serious look on his friends face before nodding. "Alright," the fox said. "Fine. Considering you have no more money left from the last raise that makes … four hundred hours of service to me."

Yuusuke sputtered and leaned forward. "400 hours! That's like …" Yuusuke stopped and thought. "More than a week right?"

"Fool!" Hiei quipped. "It's over two weeks!" Yuusuke looked at the fire demon with wide eyes but before he could speak Kurama spoke first.

"Yes," the red-head agreed. "It would be nearly seventeen days if completed all at once."

Yuusuke looked at Kuwabara. "Don't do it Kazuma! If you lose, who knows what sorts of things Kurama will have you do!"

Hiei smirked at this while Kurama frowned.

"I wouldn't do anything awful!" Kurama insisted.

"He could give him to me," Hiei muttered sadistically.

"No!" all three of the other men said at once. Hiei scoffed angrily before sinking into his chair and sulking.

"Kazuma, don't do it! It's dangerous!" Yuusuke leaned across the table and glared to make his point.

"I don't care. I'm doing it." Kuwabara said. "I see your bet Kurama, with 400 hours of service!"

Yuusuke flopped back in his chair with a groan; Hiei muttered the word fool and Kurama nodded once. Then Kuwabara showed his hand: three sixes of spades, clubs and hearts, with a two of clubs and a three of spades.

Yuusuke immediately nearly fell out of his chair while Hiei began to laugh. "Three sixes? You bet over two weeks of your life on three sixes?" the black hair man shouted in anger. Hiei said nothing but just laughed in his corner of the table.

Kuwabara frowned and puffed out his chest without saying anything as Yuusuke went into a rant about his stupidity. Half-way through the detective's rant Hiei regained the ability to speak.

"So what is the idiot going to have to do Kurama?" the fire demon asked. Yuusuke then settled down and looked at Kurama.

"Kurama. Remember, he's your friend," Yusuke muttered.

"Never mind that, fox!" Hiei chuckled. "What is the oaf going to have to do?"

Kurama looked around the table at each of his friends before smiling a little. "Figure out how to spend all that money, I suppose," he muttered nicely before laying his card face up on the table. They were a two of hearts, a three of diamonds, a six of diamonds, an eight of hearts and a nine of clubs. Yuusuke and Hiei stared with wide eyes.

"Nine high?" Yuusuke muttered. "You raised 4000 yen over nine high?" At this point not even Yuusuke had the energy to rant. He just sat down in his chair, mouth open in disbelief.

Hiei frowned and shook his head. "He was playing us," he muttered. "Damn fox."

Kurama smiled. "Yes. Actually, I was taught a game like poker by my mother when I was a small child. I rather liked it. That was a strategy she taught me. Too bad it didn't work on Kazuma. Now I'm out quite a bit of money."

Kuwabara smiled at his swept the pile towards him. "Heh. I knew you were faking. Not even a fox's lie can fool the great Kuwabara Kazuma!"

Kuwabara was busy gloating and Yuusuke was still in shock, so it was Hiei alone who saw the murderous look that swept through Kurama's eyes before his polite smile returned. The fire demon smiled. Something fun was about to happen.


	2. The Bet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While spending what was supposed to be a relaxing night at Genkai's the guys end up bickering, and Hiei sets his trap.

Genkai probably didn't like it, but the guys had a habit of making her temple their weekend getaway. Hiei showed up because while he wouldn't admit it, he liked human world and the temple was one of the few places in the world he was welcomed as he was. Yusuke liked the peace and quiet and as well as Genkai's impressive store of sake. Kuwabara liked the peace as all but mostly because it helped him recover from living with his sister. As for Kurama, a huge seclude forest where he could disappear quickly into the trees with no barriers into the demon realm and stores of power-enhancing artifacts that Genkai had collected over the years; he would have moved in permanently if his school wasn't so far away (and Genkai hadn't threatened him with bodily harm).

One evening in particular three of the four young men were sitting on the back porch drinking and watching night air stir the tops of the trees. Kuwabara had just come from the bath and was absently drying his hair with a towel while sitting in a yukata. Hiei and Yusuke had sparred for a while with no real fire to it and were lounging on opposite sides of the carrot-top. Kurama was missing even though he had arrived at the temple with them earlier that day. His absence was suddenly noted by Kuwabara.

"Where's Kurama?" he asked gruffly while looking around as if to spot him.

"He went into the mountains to visit some family," Hiei answered curtly.

Yusuke looked up and around Kuwabara's gawking form. "Kurama has family in the mountains?" the detective asked.

"Hn," Hiei responded. "Apparently the fox got lonely for them and called them to live here in human world for a while to keep him company. He's gone to visit them. They have a dwelling hidden from the humans," Hiei looked out into the dark and flicked his eyes this and that way for a moment, "right there."

Yusuke and Kuwabara strained to see something but saw only the dark layers of tress engulfed by the night. "I don't see anything!" Kuwabara complained.

"Me neither," Yusuke added and then stretched. "How about we go see the fox? I've always wondered what sort of people raised him."

Hiei raised an eyebrow then reached for the pot of sake. "Go by yourselves," he said gruffly.

"What's a matter Hiei? Afraid of the dark?" Kuwabara laughed loudly only to get glared at.

"Remind me fool, why I don't kill you?"

"Because you don't really want to," Yusuke quipped. "Everybody wants to hit him sometimes. Hell even his own sister smacks him around."

"Hey!" Kuwabara shouted but Yusuke ignored him.

"So why don't you want to go," the raven haired half-demon asked the fire demon.

Hiei glanced over at him then spoke quietly. "The trail to kitsune village is marked by dangerous plants that Kurama put there to keep enemies and humans out. Then you have to go through a little human village and then follow a trail a foxfire into kitsune village. I don't care to put up with any of that." He took a long sip of his sake and sighed before speaking again. "Beside, since Kurama's family moved in the whole lot have been plaguing the place with fox illusions. Even my jagan won't be able to get through it all and that is something I am in no mood for. If you are going, go by yourselves."

Yusuke scowled but sat back. "It does sound like a hassle."

Kuwabara scoffed. "Hassle, shmassle. I'm going. A little walk isn't going to kill me!"

"Yeah. Maybe it'll help you lose that gut you've been growing," Yusuke snickered.

Kuwabara glared at him. "Besides, who's afraid of a little fox magic anyway?"

"Kazuma don't be stupid," Yusuke scolded. "You think just because you outwitted Kurama once on a little poker game that you're suddenly so great. If you go out there you're going to get your ass handed to you on a plate of fox fire."

Kuwabara huffed. "You know ever since you started shacking up with Kurama you treat him like a god or something. You're starting to sound like some doe eyed woman!"

Yusuke stood and immediately hit Kuwabara over the head. "Shaddup! That's got nuthin'a do with this! Kurama is just going to love you going out there by yourself. He's a spiteful bastard man!"

"A fact you learned the hard way when he was perusing you." Hiei said from behind his sake cup.

Yusuke flipped the fire demon off. "Like I said that's got nothing to do with this. Beside he told me how his pursuit of you went!"

Hiei sputtered a moment, surprised to learn Kurama had shared that information with the ex-detective but then turned the tables on Yusuke. "He told you about us, did he? We're you that worried about the competition?"

Now it was Yusuke's turned to sputter. "Compe - what? No! I wasn't worried; he just told me! Not like you're competition for me anyway."

Hiei regarded Yusuke coolly then nodded. "True. Kurama likes people easier to manipulate than me. And he likes a partner less likely to object over being constantly pushed down and taken."

"Hey! I'll have you know-"

"Enough!" Kuwabara shouted. "I don't want to hear about your man-crushes on Kurama!" The carrot top stood and grimaced at all the information about his friend he now knew. He didn't care if Yusuke or Hiei or both had sex with Kurama, but he didn't need to know about any of their sex lives. "I'm going to see Kurama."

"Kazuma!" Yusuke started but Hiei cut him off.

"Let the fool go. It will teach him something."

Kuwabara glared. "I'll have you know I'll make it there and back in one unharmed piece! No fox is going to get the better of me!"

Hiei scoffed. "Care to bet?"

"Sure!" Kuwabara boosted.

"Fine." Hiei smirked as he paused and thought. "If you aren't fooled by a single fox all the way to Kurama's village, I'll pay you double what you got from the poker game last week."

"Double?" both Kuwabara and Yusuke shouted.

"Double. And if you lose and are trapped by the kitsune, you owe it to me."

Kuwabara shifted in place slightly. "Uh … well I ugh ... spent the money already."

"What?" Yusuke screeched. "On what?"

Kuwabara grinned. "I took Yukina to dinner," he announced proudly.

Yusuke tried to hold back his laughter as Hiei twitched in anger.

"Then you can work for me for ten yen an hour," Hiei spat.

Kuwabara opened his mouth in obvious protest but was cut off.

"You offered it to Kurama," Hiei reminded him. "But then again, if you're too scared to take the bet I wouldn't be surprised."

Kuwabara huffed and glared. "I am not scared! It's a bet!"

"So be it," Hiei muttered and smiled wickedly into his sake cup.


	3. The Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuwabara makes his way through the forest on the lookout for any foxes and musing to himself about the state of his friendships.

Kuwabara huffed as he walked into the woods. He couldn't believe that little shrimp had bet he'd get his ass handed to him by a bunch of overly fluffy, self-involved, wannabe dogs! Yeah that's right! He said it! WANNABE DOGS! Kuwabara huffed again as he went on. He wasn't scared of some damned foxes. He'd show Hiei and that bastard Urameshi! On the orange haired man stormed, fuming at all of the disrespect he had to suffer at the hands of the very people he called his friends. He was busy muttered to himself when suddenly the ground dropped out from under his feet.

The man screamed loudly as he fell head over heels out of nowhere. The fall lasted only a moment or two and Kuwabara found himself lying face down in the dirt after it. "Ow, ow, ow," he muttered as he tried to get up, only to find he couldn't. As he was pushing, grunting, and trying to figure out why he couldn't get up, he heard a soft little snicker. The orangette gasped. No. No way! He'd been tricked by a fox already? That wasn't possible!

"No way!" he shouted and with a sudden hike in spirit energy he ripped himself up off the ground and stood up. "Come on bastards! That wasn't funny!" He unleashed his spirit sword and ran forward chopping and hacking as he went. "Come on you foxes! Show yourselves! Fight like men!"

He swung his sword wildly hoping to make contact with one of the creatures but only managed to tire himself out. Breathing heavily he collapsed on the ground and tried to catch his breath.

As his breathing returned to normal, he looked around and found that there was no one for his sword to hit. He frowned and spread his power out around, finding nothing but old tracks made days before. Even the fox energy scattered here and there was far too old for the creature to still be in the area. And now, after his screaming fit while cutting up the forest, even the normal human-world animals were gone. Kuwabara was alone. He looked back the way he'd come and saw a very normal little cliff had been the reason behind his fall. He would have jumped down it had he seen it, but had been too busy fuming to notice it until he was falling down it. And, at the foot of the cliff, were very normal weeds he had gotten tangled up in when he landed.

Kuwabara snickered as he stared at the cliff. It was ridiculous, he thought, that he had gotten so worked up over such a little thing. Absolutely ridiculous that he'd thought it had something to do with kitsune. If it had been a fox, he'd have felt them come near and snapped out of his musings.

Laughing at his own mistake, he shook his head and turned away. He could not believe he'd made all that fuss over a twenty foot drop. It was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. Giving himself stitches with all his laughter, Kuwabara thought he was glad that that Urameshi hadn't seen him. If the man had seen him swinging his sword around at nothing, he'd never hear the end of it. Shaking his head and wiping little tears from his eyes, Kuwabara stood up and retrieved his things before setting out again.

The walk wasn't so bad. There were some bugs, but that didn't bother Kuwabara much. In his head, he could image how Yusuke would react to the whole thing. He'd complain about the bugs, the walk, and the fact of having to travel instead of sitting comfortably in Genkai's house. The orangette snickered at the thought of it. He also thought of the look on Hiei's face when he came back successful. Hiei wouldn't know hit him; neither would Yusuke.

Yusuke, Kuwabara snorted at the thought of him. The jerk had been Kurama's fan boy ever since they had hooked up; it was no wonder he would bet against him and for the kitsune.

Speaking of Yusuke and Kurama, Kuwabara wondered about them. It just seemed so sudden. One minute Yusuke was practically engaged to Keiko, the next he was kissing Kurama in public. Kuwabara didn't have a problem with Yusuke being gay. The raven haired man swore he wasn't, but he was kissing a dude! That made him gay in Kuwabara's book.

However, the issue wasn't that he had a problem or disapproved; he just wondered about the timing. Why had Yusuke suddenly just started dating the fox-demon? They had never seemed to think about one another that way before. What changed things? And ever since they had gotten together, Keiko hadn't come around, so how did the break-up go?

Kuwabara shook his head. He was sure Yusuke hadn't been honorable. That jerk didn't know how to treat women. It was a damn good thing he was gay. Yusuke was the only guy Kuwabara had ever heard of that was too masculine to be straight.

Now Hiei, he was too masculine and way too scary to be straight. Women were soft delicate creatures. Hiei could never learn to treat one right. He couldn't even handle his own sister. Kuwabara huffed. He had been bowled over when Yukina had told him that Hiei was her brother. They had been at dinner one night. He had innocently brought up her brother, and she had told him about Hiei. She had said she was keeping it quiet until she felt he would be alright with it. As Kuwabara thought about Hiei being Yukina's brother, he shook his head. How could those two people be related, let alone twins?

Yukina was sweet and lovely. She was like a cool fall breeze that brought in a mild, sparkling snow-filled winter. She was the chiming of bells and light scent of happiness all wrapped up in wonderful bright sunshine.

Hiei on the other hand was a dark cloud of emo misery. He was as deep and over-thinking as Kurama, but with none of the fox's outward charm. He was gruff while Kurama was simply distant. He was irritable while Kurama was miffed. Hiei was homicidal while Kurama would convince his enemies to go kill themselves. Hiei was Kurama without sleep for a year and half and on hard drugs.

Kuwabara sighed again. How could two friends be that different? Frankly, nothing about the relationships he kept made any sense to him. Here he had been dared by one friend to walk out in the woods and possibly get his ass handed to him by another friend, who was screwing a third, who had dumped his long-term girlfriend for the second. His life had gotten more and complicated ever since he'd gotten really involved with Yusuke and, by extension Kurama and Hiei. Especially Hiei. He would never admit it out loud, but he preferred Hiei the most.

The midget was grumpy, but he lived and died by his own honor code. He kept himself away from Yukina because he thought he was no good for her and then secretly protected her. He was solid and honorable and deep down understanding and sweet. Yeah. Hiei was actually a man after his own heart.

Kuwabara stopped in his tracks, mouth open in disbelief.

"What the fuck?" he asked out loud before he could stop himself.

However, before he could say anything else, a rustling stopped him. He looked around and glared before spotting someone behind a tree.

"Show yourself!" he commanded and raised an eyebrow when the figure flinched.

Slowly the person emerged from behind a tree. Her blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail but falling out in places into her face. There were trickles of sweat running down her forehead, streaking the dirt caked on her cheeks. Her delicate features were twisted with worry. She wore a tank-top and shorts and had a backpack and what looked like climbing gear. Her blue eyes washed over Kuwabara, and he instantly felt guilty for shouting.

"Ugh. Sorry. I thought you were..." he looked around, "someone else." The orangette took a hesitant step forward. "So who are you?"


	4. The Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During his walk, Kuwabara meets Amanda, a beautiful blonde with a sharp tongue.

Kuwabara sat down and leaned his pack against rock. He fished a bottle of water out of one of the mesh holders and opened it. The night was terribly hot and strangely enough seemed to be getting hotter as they walked. However if nothing else Kuwabara was a gentleman and he held out the open bottle for the lady.

"Have some," he advised. "You look pale."

The woman panted soft but shook her head.

"No. … I'm … alright. I just … need to catch my breath." She shook her head again but whether it was in refusal of the water or effort from speaking, Kuwabara couldn't tell.

The orangette huffed. "Come on," he said dismissively. "You definitely need some water. You look like you're gonna die. Take it."

He pushed the water into the young woman's hand and folded his arms over his chest in overt refusal to take the bottle back until she drank. Seeing no other option the young woman smiled sheepishly and drank.

It was a sip at first but then quickly turned into several long and greedy gulps. Kuwabara smiled softly. The woman was obviously out of her league.

Apparently the girl's name was Amanda. She was half-Japanese and was visiting Japan from America for the summer. Her mother had apparently been born in the tiny mountain village that sat between Genkai's temple and Kurama's fox den, though she had no idea that it did. She simply wanted to see the place her mother had been brought up before she went to the city for school and met up with her father.

However it was obvious to Kuwabara that Amanda was grossly underprepared for hiking in the wilderness, especially by herself and at night. She had scrapes and cuts all over from tripping, falling and get caught on the plants. She had even mentioned she had gotten caught in some weeds and in her panicking believed them to be pulling her underground. While she had turned her head away in embarrassment, Kuwabara had frowned. No doubt Kurama's hellish demon plants (pun definitely intended) had gotten to her.

It was clear to Kuwabara that he could not leave her alone. It wouldn't be chivalrous for him to let her wander around with Kurama's botanical monsters lurking all over just wanting for a poor unsuspecting girl like her to come along so they could feast. No, Kuwabara had to escort her to the village. Beside it was right on his way anyhow so there was no sense in trying to travel without her.

Kuwabara took the bottle when she handed it slowly back to him. It was mostly empty with only a mouthful of water sloshing at the bottom, but Kuwabara smiled and tilted it towards his companion.

"Bottoms up," he said cheerily and threw back the last mouthful of water in one gulp. Wiping his mouth on his sleeve with a dramatic sigh, he grinned. "That was good." The orangette looked up at the girl and leaned back. "So, do you want to rest some more or keep going?"

"Oh, I'm fine now. Let's keep going. I was hoping to reach the village by nightfall." She laughed. "That's shot to hell but I still don't want to stop."

Kuwabara shrugged. "Okay," he said as he got up and pulled his bag onto his back. "If you want to." He crossed the distance between them and grasped the handle of Amanda's bag. "I'll carry this for a while so you can rest."

Kuwabara jerked on the bag only to have it jerk him back. In a moment Amanda was holding the bag with both hands.

"I can carry it!" she said in a heated tone. "I'm not that tired!" She yanked the bag from his grasp, threw it over her should and marched off. Kuwabara stared open-mouthed for a moment before shaking his head and following.

As they walked Kuwabara eyed the bag. It was too heavy to be normal. His spirit energy had automatically kicking in when he tried to pick it up. Or at least Kuwabara had thought he felt it kick in. However, if it had then that bag was too heavy for a normal girl to carry around. Kuwabara eyed the girl. She didn't look tired to him. There was no way a bottle of water had helped that much.

Amanda marched ahead of him without speaking, moving fast enough through the dark underbrush to stay more than an arm's length from him. Kuwabara sped up and so did she. He slowed down and she did as well. She kept carefully just beyond his reach, like she was leading him somewhere. Bristling Kuwabara began to muster his spirit sword. He was certain things weren't as they appeared.

However as he went to grab the woman she fell. In all Amanda's rushing she hadn't noticed a fallen log just ahead of her. She toppled over it like a stack of rocks, cursing and screeching in pain. Kuwabara was at her side in had instant.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Amanda slapped the ground with her palm but immediately howled in pain and pulled her hand to her chest. "No! I am not okay!" she screamed as tears began to run down her face. Kuwabara scooped her up in his arms and sat her on the log before examining her. Her knee was scraped from the fall and a thorn was stuck in her hand. Kuwabara shook his head and went about patching her up.

"You need to be more careful," he scolded softly as he pulled the thorn from her palm.

She hissed and looked away. "I know," came her miserable whine, then she was silent for a moment. "There's … antiseptic in my bag," she muttered softly after a moment.

Kuwabara eyed her but slowly reached for her bag. At first he saw nothing out of the ordinary when he opened it but then a small heavy object fell out of the bag and onto his foot.

"Ow!" the orangette yelped. "What the heck is that?" Picking up the offending object he looked at it closely. "Is this a weight?"

Amanda seemed to shrink in on herself. "I'm a soccer player," she explained. "I like to keep in shape." She looked at him shyly. "That's why I didn't want you carry my bag. People, especially men, think that because I'm pretty and little that I'm weak. I hate it."

Suddenly Kuwabara felt guilty despite himself. He had originally thought she was weak for the same reasons.

"Well," he muttered, "I'm sure they have good intentions behind it."

Amanda tossed her blonde ponytail behind her and scoffed. "I doubt it! Men and thier high and mighty ways. They keep women int he house with word delicate and fragile and mean while take all the power for themselves! Bah!"

Kuwabara gulped and returned to the bag for the antiseptic. He found it but when he pulled it out a bundle of papers fell out as well. He went to put them back until he saw the symbol of foxes. Pausing, Kuwabara stared at the folded paper to find they were fox magic seals.

"Those are seals to keep foxes away," Amanda muttered when she saw him looking.

"Foxes?" Kuwabara asked wearily.

"Yeah," the blonde said dismissively. "My mom's really superstitious. When I told her I was coming out here, she stuffed those in my bag to keep the foxes away. Like they're going to come out of ground and attack me. Please."

Kuwabara smiled a little as he put seals back. "Yeah," he said under his breath.

After Amanda's injures were all patched up they started out again. The village wasn't far from where they were so there was no point in stopping. Besides that, despite the explanations, Kuwabara was eager to get away from Amanda. There was no doubt in his mind that Amanda was a fox and if she thought he was going to fall for any of her tricks, she had another thing coming.


	5. The Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In his zealous quest to win the bet, Kuwabara lashes out with terrible results.

The more he thought about it, the less sense it made. Kuwabara thought over Amanda's story and it came apart under his scrutiny.

First off, why would she hike through the woods? If her mother came from the village and had left the village for work, then certainly there was a path leading from the village to a road or highway. Why hike?

Second, Genkai's place was out of the way anyhow. To get to just that point, or anything on the same level you had to ride the train far out into the country and walk in along tiny roads. Why would Amanda take nothing but one bag with her for that? Also, there wasn't much in the bag either. There were some medical supplies, and some clothes, but no food or water. Why would anyone undertake such a trip without food or water?

Nothing about Amanda sat right with Kuwabara. Not even her wanting to get to the village. If Kuwabara lived in a small village isolated from the rest of the world and stranger came out of the woods in the middle of the night, he would be suspicious of them, and yet Amanda insisted on getting to village as soon as possible. No normal person would insist of reaching their destination in the middle of the night. Sure, she didn't have camping gear, but that was odd too.

Why not bring camping gear on a hike? The girl had even asked Kuwabara about his lack of gear when they began to talk. He, of course, had a reason; he'd come from Genkai's. And he had a reason for wanting to get to his destination at night. Kurama would probably sense him coming and come out to meet him.

Kuwabara frowned. Maybe he was being judgmental. Maybe Amanda was a fox but was simply there to see Kurama. Maybe she was a relative. That would explain everything about her, including wanting to see her family in the middle of a night. If she was a fox and sensed his high level of spirit energy, she wouldn't just go announcing herself and risk getting attacked. The "Amanda" disguise could be to keep her safe. Could he really have had her all wrong, even if she was a fox? He looked ahead of him to see Amanda looking around, perched on top of a fallen tree.

"I think we're here," she said. "There's some sort of fence here."

Kuwabara looked and sure enough there was a fence with a gate made of logs.

"Okay," the orangette said. "So how do we get in?"

Amanda smiled. "What do you mean? We knock. How else are they going to know they have guests." She hopped off the log while shaking her head. "Sheesh, you'd think were invading a demon nest the way you act."

Kuwabara grimaced at the comment, but followed. Even after all his thinking, he couldn't place Amanda and that made him nervous. He just wanted to be on his way and find Kurama who would be able to point him clearly in one direction or the other.

The blonde girl wasted no time heading over to the gate and knocking loudly with a big wooden hammer hanging from the gate. In the quiet woods, the knock echoed on forever around them. Kuwabara stood and nervously watched the gate. He was sure that no one would answer. It was the middle of the night. Why would anyone be answering the door at that hour?

However, Kuwabara's suspicions were immediately proven wrong when the gate began to open. A middle aged man in a short kimono peeked out.

"Yes?" he asked.

It was a few minutes later that Kuwabara and Amanda were sitting in one of the house sipping tea. Kuwabara and Amanda had explained why they had come and had been allowed into the village. Kuwabara had lied a little of course, but he figure that wouldn't be so bad. As they walked through the village he kept his eyes open for the fox-fire that would lead him to the den of the kitsune. He spotted the trail as they were lead into the house and made a note to sneak off when he could. However, at the moment, he was content to sip some tea and relax after a long walk.

It seemed the entire village had woken up to see the visitors. They were hovering around the house, all trying to get a look at them or say something. The owner of the house, the same man who'd opened the door, laughed a little.

"Forgive them," he said. His name was Obito and he was the son of the one of the leaders of the village. He had a lopsided and pleasant grin. Kuwabara liked him. He gave off good energy. "They're not used to strangers and so have got no manners to deal with them."

Kuwabara smiled and shook his head. "Nah. It's okay." He sipped his tea and sighed. It was amazingly good.

For about the next hour, Obito amused them with small talk. Kuwabara decided that he was glad he had come there. It was a nice evening. To himself, he was snickering that not only had he had a nice walk, met a pretty girl (who was probably a fox but seemed harmless anyway), had great tea and nice conversation, and would still win the bet. Everything was going his way.

"Kuwabara-san," Obito asked.

Kuwabara jolted. He had gone too far into his thoughts. "Uh, yes?"

"It's nothing," the raven haired man said. He smiled gently. "You just seemed to be somewhere far away."

"Oh, yea, just thinking." Kuwabara chuckled and went back to his tea.

"So do you know where your companion went?"

Kuwabara looked up. Obito was right. Amanda was gone. Her bag was still by her place but she was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't know. Did you see her leave?"

Obito shrugged as he raised his own tea cup. "She was talking to someone at the door and then she was gone. Her things are still here though. I'm sure she'll come back."

Kuwabara nodded but got up anyway. "Yea, but I'm going to go look for her anyway. She was tired on the way here so I'm just a little worried."

"If you want to," Obito said with another shrug. "You certainly are a gentleman."

Kuwabara walked out of the house and looked around. Most of the village had gone back to bed. There was hardly anyone out anymore. Kuwabara chose to go back the way they'd come and began to look for his missing companion. As he walked he wondered about his village. It looked like something about of a history book. Wooden houses, traditional clothes, the whole deal. The orangette wondered how it had been able to stay like this, untouched by time. But before he had time to think too much about it he spotted Amanda. She was making her way behind one of the houses and seemed to be looking for something.

Kuwabara edged behind her watching closing. She looked around, obvious trying to find something on the ground. Then she looked at the plants behind the house and leaned in close. Her mouth moved but Kuwabara couldn't hear what she said. However what it was, the plants understood. The foliage parted as fox fire sparked beneath them. Kuwabara stared. Yep. She was fox.

Gritting his teeth, the human drew his spirit sword and rushed forward he was going to end this game.

Amanda turned as he came at her but instead of defending herself, she just screamed. His spirit sword hit her and she gasped falling to the ground. Kuwabara took a step back. Amanda gasped and sputtered as she stared down at the gaping wound in her stomach. She shook for a while before falling over. Kuwabara looked her over. Blood was staining the ground and her blonde ponytail. As Kuwabara's eyes met Amanda she stared at him in horror before the lights went out.

The human stared open-mouthed. She hadn't changed, she hadn't fought. She had just. . . died. Kuwabara kept blinking; hoping that when she opened she eyes the image in front of him would be gone. He thought she was a fox. She should have fought back. He had only wanted to scare her into revealing herself.

Suddenly Kuwabara heard a whispering behind him. He turned to find a growing number of people behind him, staring and whispering. He took a step away from them but when he felt the soft ground, wet from Amanda's blood, he stopped. He was trapped between what he'd done and being judged for it.

"What have you done?" a voice said and the crowd parted. An old man in monk's robes walked through the crowd followed closely by Obito. The man looked down at Amanda and bowed his head before beginning to pray. The villagers bowed their hands as well as the monk prayed. Kuwabara was too far in shock to pray.

This wasn't happening.


	6. The Payoff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurama's revenge comes full circle and Kuwabara learns his lesson.

The old man's name was Kurama-otera-sama. He was village priest and maintained the temple the stood as the center of life in the village. Kuwabara had seen the building on his way in with its oil lamps hanging at the gates. Amanda had eyed it with what Kuwabara had taken for fear before but now he knew it was probably just awe. Kuwabara had been rather impressed by it himself.

Apparently Kurama-otera-sama had left the village and gone a sacred mountain where he had received greater spiritual awareness. In recognition of this, the villagers called him Kurama, the name of the mountain. The old man headed the temple as well as acting as the de-facto leader of the village. He was also Obito's grandfather.

Kuwabara sat in the main room of the temple. Otera-sama was before the altar praying over Amanda's shroud-covered corpse. Obito was near him, now dressed as a monk, and praying as well. Some other high-rank villagers were in the temple too, all praying. Four guards were seated around Kuwabara, not that he would try to run away. He was still in shock and couldn't even think of moving an inch.

After what seemed like an eternity Otera-sama turned and addressed the red-head. "Kuwabara-san," the old man said gravely, "what you have done is very serious."

The large man nodded dumbly. "I … didn't mean to. It was an accident. I thought she was a –" The spirit detective stopped in mid-breath and shut his mouth however the monk just nodded his head.

"I understand. You believed the unfortunate girl to be a kitsune."

Kuwabara began to ask the monk how he knew but the older man held up his hand.

"I know many things beyond that of the average human. Kitsune are a part of our daily life here in this village."

The monk turned and cast a long look at the altar. Kuwabara noticed the others in the room lower their heads. Glancing around him Kuwabara frowned a little then looked up at the altar himself. The large wooden structure looked to be carved of a single piece of wood like a large tree. The way it was carved made it look like the wood gave way to passages and rooms creeping up and down the expanse of the structure. Inside the rooms and tiny darkened passages were kitsune. They were peeking out of corners, watching the room; some had real white-blue fox-fire burning around their little wooden tails.

"You see, Kuwabara-san, even if a kitsune wanders into this village they are respected and left to their own devices. If they become mischievous we simply ask the elder ones to control their children. It is always the children who make trouble." Otera-sama turned back the red-head. "However Amanda was not a kitsune. You are a spirit warrior. I know your kind well. You have broken something sacred in doing this. You will have to repent. This is a very serious matter."

Kuwabara finally tore his eyes from the altar. "I wasn't trying to kill her," he said finally. "I didn't want to hurt her, just expose her. Foxes can be pretty dangerous but usually not when they know someone's on to them."

"Yes," Obito said, speaking for the first time since this had all began. "Kitsune do tend to be better behaved when they know they're being watched."

Otera-sama glanced at his grandson. "That is true." Then he switched his gaze to Kuwabara. "However your error in judgment has cost the life of an innocent person. That cannot be easily overlooked."

"I understand," Kuwabara said as he bowed. "Just tell me what to do."

Otera-sama closed his eyes for a moment and the room fell silent. Kuwabara held his breath. The seconds seemed to trickle past.

"I believe I have a solution," the old priest said at last. "You will become a monk here at the temple. You may live with Obito and will work in the temple for one-hundred and eight lunar cycles. Each full moon who will cleanse yourself in the temple and one hundred and eight full moons later, you may leave, freed of your burden."

Kuwabara thought a moment. One hundred and eight was a sacred number. He wasn't one hundred percent sure about it, but that seemed like a good plan. And one hundred and eight full moons were only … nine years. Kuwabara swallowed. Nine years. That was a long time. But Amanda would be dead for a lot longer. Slowly the spirit detective raised his head.

"Will you let me send word to my sister?" he asked.

"Of course," Otera-sama said dismissively but kindly.

"Okay. I'll do it."

"Very good." Otera-sama motioned to someone off to the side and suddenly a shrine maiden was holding a knife out for him. "Bow your head so it can be shaved," the old monk said as he rose and moved closed to the red-head.

Kuwabara gulped and nodded before closing his eyes. He felt the sharp knife being pressed the back of his head and slid forward over his skin. The large man had to tried not to tremble as the blade pulled over his skin. After a few moments he felt the monk's hands brush over his bared head.

"It's finished," he said but his voice was different, smoother. "I have to say," the monk continued, with voice getting smoother with every syllable, "you look good, Kazuma."

Kuwabara looked up and was startled to see the monks bald head now brushed with a wispy fine layer of red fuzz. A small crooked smile tried to hide itself while two emerald eyes danced with amusement in the weathered old face.

A small snicker pulled Kuwabara's attention to the altar where Amanda was sitting up giggling with a single tail swaying behind her. Another snicker brought the red-head's attention to Obito whose fox ears were turned back with his effort not to laugh. Kuwabara looked around the room where the villagers were hiding smiles but not hiding fox attributes. Looking back up at the priest Kuwabara was not surprised to see that Kurama's young fine face had completely replaced the face of the old monk.

"Hiei," the fox said, "is going to love this."

Hiei in fact did love this. The oaf was currently polishing his swords and at his command. It was more than amusing.

"I can't believe you," the fire demon muttered as he watched the human slave over his swords. "I knew the fox was going to, what's the term, hand your ass to you. But for him to tell you his name and for you to just sit there."

"Hey I thought I had fucking killed a girl Hiei!" the normally-orangette snapped. "I was in shock! I'm not a fucking heartless bastard like you!"

"No. You're just brainless."

"He gave a perfectly reasonable explanation for the name."

"The fact that he explained his name didn't bother you."

"It made sense for a monk!" Kuwabara growled as he ran his hand over his now bald head.

Hiei laughed. "Yeah. Whatever. You still suck."

"Yeah well," the human muttered. "Right back at cha."

With that Kuwabara went back to his task occasionally rubbing his bald head in irritation.

**Author's Note:**

> Necassary Notes and explainations:
> 
> 820 yen is a bit under 10 US dollars
> 
> Hiei's six coins were one 500 yen, three 100 yen and two 10 yen coins to see Yusuke's 820 yen raise
> 
> 4000 yen is a bit under twenty dollars, Kurama uses two 2000 yen bills to pay the raise. The latest 2000 yen bill has a picture of a 16th century gate called Shureimon on the front.
> 
> 10 yen is about 12 cents.


End file.
